the higher vegetable kingdom, put within the little seed by God, must reach down into the dead mineral kingdom and lift it before it can be transformed into a flower. So the life of God in the Word must come down from the higher spiritual kingdom and transform and lift man from the lower animal kingdom. We can not lift ourselves into the spiritual realm. But the Word - both the living and the written Word can lift us. Taken into the human heart, it will produce its own holy likeness.

How much Jesus suffered in order to lift man out of sin! We shall probably never realize fully the awfulness of His experience while here on earth. He met as a man every temptation we can meet, in order to inspire in us the hope of overcoming at last, even as He overcame. No man can measure the distance from the top of Christ's throne in heaven to the bottom of His cross on earth. He endured it all for you, for me. Have you ever thanked Him for such love?

And it was no sudden sorrow which overtook Jesus. It was a long-looked-for agony. On His first visit to the temple, when but twelve years old, the mystery of His own mission opened to Him. Every act in the temple service seemed to be bound up with His own life of ministry and suffering. And in after years, He told His disciples of what awaited Him.

At last, Judas came with the devil's band to take Him. Alas, the crowd he led was a church crowd too! "Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He," was the sign Judas gave them. Look at that apostate disciple as he says, "Hail, Master," and kisses Him! Then they led Him through one humiliation and agony after another to the cross. But the thing that broke His heart was the awful load of sin which rested upon Him. His Father had seemingly forsaken Him, leaving Him to die the death of the guilty. Man seemed not to care for the sacrifice the Son of God was making. That is

Only He could have love

what broke Jesus' heart. enough to endure it.

What a glorious gospel! Glorious good news! The price was paid on a cliff of limestone about seven minutes' walk from the gates of Jerusalem, where agony with one hand shook the rocks and with the other drew a midnight blackness over the heavens.

When I was a boy on the prairie, we often had to back fire to save ourselves and property from some onrushing prairie fire. We would burn off a small area and then get into that burned spot. Friends, nineteen hundred years ago the fire of God's judgment wrath burned over Calvary. Will you take your place where the fire has been? You are safe nowhere else.

|FTER repentance, which is sorrow for sin sorrow deep enough to cause one to agree with God to stop sinning-comes confession, or the acknowledging of sin. God's forgiveness is conditional on our confession. Sometimes, when we are checked by the mercy of God in our race of self-destruction, the sinful past rises up before us like a giant peak, and our natural, proud hearts, aided by the subtle temptations of the evil one, cry out, "I can't confess!"

The matter of confession troubles many people. Only a few days ago, I received a letter from a friend. several thousand miles away, asking me to explain fully how and to whom we must confess our sins. Many who much desire to do right, and are really willing to do anything in order to be right with God, wonder just how far they should go in confession.

Let us settle it first of all that we must confess. Why should God show a man mercy and grant him forgiveness when he will not even acknowledge himself guilty? When we confess our sins, they are charged to Christ, and God holds Him responsible for them. Confess now, while there is hope for you, my friend. Everybody will confess some day; the majority when too late. Pharaoh, Balaam, King Saul, and Judas all said, "I have sinned," but they said it too late to do them any good. While the Spirit pleads, do it!

Confession, as taught in the Bible, is of three kinds : We are to confess our sins to God, our faults to one another, and Christ before the world. I shall deal with these three kinds in the order mentioned.

All sins, of whatever nature, must in secret be confessed to God. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Proverbs 28: 13.

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"True confession is always of a specific character, and acknowledges particular sins. They may be of such a nature as to be brought before God only; they may be wrongs that should be confessed to individuals who have suffered injury through them; or they may be of a public character, and should then be publicly confessed. But all confession should be definite and to the point, acknowledging the very sins of which you are guilty."

It is not sufficient to bow before God and say that you are a sinner, and ask Him to forgive your sins. It is always well to pray as Jesus taught His disciples, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," for there may be in the life many sins of which you are not conscious; but in your secret devotions, if you know that you have broken the Sabbath, tell God that you have done that particular thing, and ask His forgiveness for Jesus' sake. If you have taken His name in vain or had other gods in your heart, confess these things. The same applies to wrongs that you have first confessed to man. Such are sins against God, and must be confessed to Him also. If you have lost your temper, lied, stolen, or committed any other sin, tell God the particular thing. "And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing." Leviticus 5:5. Confession should be as broad as the knowledge of sin.

Few persons who have a desire to do right have any difficulty in this first kind of confession. All Christians are willing to confess to God. It is the second class of confession which makes our proud hearts rebel. Confession is a wonderful medicine for pride. "Confess your faults one to another." James 5:16. When you transgress any of the last six commands, you have wronged one or more of God's children. In order for this class of sins to be forgiven, the fault must be con

fessed to those injured, just as far as it is possible to do so, and restitution made where necessary; then you may come to God and confess the sin to Him, with hope of forgiveness.

Many persons are good at confessing other people's sins; but when true repentance comes into the heart, we shall find enough to do to confess our own. Humble confession is usually evidence of sincere repentance.

"You can not make every case right; for some whom you have injured have gone into their graves and the account stands registered against you. In these cases, the best you can do is to bring a trespass offering to the altar of the Lord, and He will accept and pardon you. But where you can, you should make reparation to the wronged ones."

"When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the Lord, and that person be guilty; then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed. But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the Lord." Numbers 5:6-8.

"When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die." Ezekiel 33: 14, 15.

But one asks, How broad should confession to man be? What is the rule? It is safe to say that the confession should reach as far as the sin is known. If there are but two parties to a sin, and no one but these two know it, besides God, then the confession should go no farther than these two and God. If a professed Christian sins openly, then he should publicly confess it. The